Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier reacts to the ruling on the replay of the Ravens' winning touchdown reception with four seconds to play in the fourth quarter at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Sunday, December 8, 2013. Ravens won 29-26. ( Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

Vikings kicker Blair Walsh points to a spot where he wants the snow cleared before placing the ball on the tee prior to a kickoff during a squall in the second quarter against the Ravens in Baltimore on Sunday, Decvember 8, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

BALTIMORE — We had so many extreme climate changes Sunday that I thought offensive linemen (Chubosauras Rex) might become extinct.

After all, it’s tough to forage in all that snow and ice. I didn’t see one edible berry or shrub anywhere near the locker room. And repeatedly skidding and falling on the slick surface causes those big fellows to burn a lot of calories.

The next time some old-timer gets that faraway look in his eye and starts babbling about the glory days of outdoor football at Met Stadium, he will get an earful from me for talking a load of hooey. And perhaps a few ginkgo-biloba tablets to help sharpen his memory.

Those Vikings teams might have been extraordinary, but clearly lousy weather was (and is) something to be tolerated and not embraced. We were reminded of that Sunday. It might have appeared on television that the Baltimore fans were having fun hitting cameramen and other sideline personnel in the head with snowballs. And maybe they did enjoy the winter wonderland for awhile. But most of them were gone by halftime.

“Tough sledding,” said running back Toby Gerhardt.

You know, it’s really tough not to burst out laughing when a guy unintentionally makes such a great pun.

“It was an experience,” he added.

“The only other time I’ve seen snow like that was when we (Texas) played a game at Nebraska and it was snowing,” said defensive end Brian Robison. “I don’t recall it being as bad as today.”

The Vikings-Ravens game, complete with heavy snow turned sleet turned hard rain, was both a reminder and a warning. It’s a reminder that there is no true test of football skill under blizzard conditions. It’s also a warning as to what the Vikings and their fans might experience over the next few years at TCF Stadium while Zygi World is under construction.

Yuck.

And when the snow stopped and the rain at least let up some, it was as if 58 minutes worth of pent-up aggression was released all at once. There were five touchdowns scored in the last 2:01 — a madcap finish to what had been an impossible affair. The first few minutes of snow-powered football were a novelty. Then it became a testament to weather-inflicted ineffectiveness. Finally, the Ice Age closed in a flurry of thunderbolts.

“Crazy finish,” said linebacker Chad Greenway. “The way the game was going, it seemed it was going to end 12-7, or whatever the weird score was. For it to end like that was bizarre.”

The Vikings played a wintry game on Dec. 20, 2010, against the Chicago Bears at TCF. They lost that one 40-14. This one was at least closer. Twice in the final two minutes Sunday, the Vikings appeared to have the game all wrapped up. But Les Frazier knew better. He has seen all manner of catastrophes this season and was taking nothing for granted. Frazier said he never, ever thought the game was put away.

“The way our season has gone? I didn’t,” he said sadly. “Even when there was 45 seconds left and Cordarrelle (Patterson) had scored, we were listening to the guys talking through what we needed to do defensively. Even when there was four seconds left, anything could happen.”

“You can’t draw that up and envision that,” he said. “We let them off the hook. A game we dominated, we let them score at the end too many times.”

I don’t know about dominated, but neither the Vikings nor Ravens could do much of anything on offense until the end. When there is no firm footing, the defense has an advantage because the offense has to worry about a slippery football and other such nagging details. And the Vikings’ defense, especially the secondary, did well under treacherous conditions.

“It was terrible,” cornerback Chris Cook said. “This was a good man-coverage game. When you’re playing man, you can just play a guy and both of you have to deal with the same elements.”

Cook shook his head and added: “I just knew we were going to win that game.”

Afterward, we heard the familiar refrain about a play here and a play there and the game — the whole season — might have turned out much differently. Now it doesn’t matter because the Vikings officially are eliminated from playoff contention. The last flicker of life has left the body. But you have to admire a team that is 3-9-1 and still talking “what if?”

“We’ll be in the Dome next week,” Greenway noted. “Cozy and nice — normal, I guess — football. This was crazy. This was fun. I think we are proud of the way we played, but we didn’t get the win”

If you’re going to lose anyway, there’s something to be said for cozy and nice.

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